Study: Content Marketing’s influence on the Modern Online Buyer

Consumers are changing the way that they buy. The act of purchasing goods is wildly different to a mere twenty years ago, and it’s all digitally directed. Just looking at data reports from the last couple of years shows that people shifted their consumer spending to online marketplaces by over 50 percent margins.

The internet has changed the shopping experience

The internet now allows people to invest money into what they want from the comfort of their computer screens. Even with the shortcomings of shipping and handling, people are more inclined to go online to buy than ever before.

So with so many venturing forth online, how is marketing handled, and can marketers identify the objectives of online purchasing? This has long been tricky for people to understand at first glance, however there are a few things that can be examined in regards to the content that people use as a resource to shape their purchasing decisions.

It Depends On The Market

Here’s the thing, there’s no objective rule that dictates which specific content people decide to utilise. What we can measure, however, is the industry the content is tailored for.

You’ll find, for instance, that B2B tailored content has different characteristics to that of B2C. This kind of variationis worth noting, because it can make or break a small businesses marketing efforts. For instance, take a look at how these two elements play out:

B2B – Within the confines of B2B, it appears that videos reign supreme in regards to marketing. Video is easy to watch, and has a way of exploring ideas, reviews, and more. This is telling, especially for those that are working within commercial grade sales. The instructional potential of videos also suit the common transaction of ideas and techniques between businesses.

B2C – As far as consumers are concerned, blog posts seem to be the content that works best here. Consumers consider blog data and reviews that take the format of personal experiences over video or other marketing elements. Essentially, customers prefer authentic and relatable content – testimonials from like-minded people, for example.

These two different elements of marketing definitely shine a light on what form of marketing motivates people to buy. It’s important to remember though, that whatever format, data is the driving force.

Data, meaning content that focuses on comparative specifications and concrete information, appears to influence people’s purchases across the board. The more data that was displayed on a website, the higher the chance of purchasing, and this was the case in both B2B and B2C markets.

No Majority

The important thing to remember is that there is no ‘superior’ form of content. Content marketing doesn’t have a one-sided approach; there’s no single, perfect formula to get consumers to buy. The percentage of people that are spending money online point towards content that harbours data analysis, price point, video marketing, and personal experience.